It feels like NBC’s Thursday night has developed its own electromagnetic field affecting every program that enters it so it cannot go above a 1.3 in adults 18-49. That was the high-water mark logged by Parks And Recreation and Parenthood last week, and it was the case again last night. The network didn’t see any significant improvement after pulling Welcome To The Family last week. The Voice repeat in the 8 PM hour matched Parks And Recreation‘s 1.3 from last week (though did better than Welcome To The Family‘s 0.9). Sean Saves The World, The Michael J. Fox Show and Parenthood matched their deliveries from last week — 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, respectively — as NBC’s lineup appears isolated from the rest of the world and impervious to competition.

And competition did change last night, with Fox airing Game 2 of the World Series, which continues to run ahead of last year’s Series with a better matchup. The Boston-St. Louis face-off drew a 3.4 in preliminary non-time-zone adjusted ratings, up 17% vs. Game 2 last fall. Baseball ratings will go up in the finals, giving Fox a nightly demo win.

The CW’s Vampire Diaries was down 15% in 18-49 (1.1) but matched last week’s high in 18-34 (1.3), topping both NBC and ABC in the 18-34 demo at 8 PM. Reign was down from its premiere but the slide also indicated a generational shift to younger female audiences. While the teen soap was down 25% in adults 18-49 to a 0.6, its drop in total viewers was 7% (to 1.84 million) and the show actually doubled its premiere rating in female teens (0.5 to 1).

Recent Comments

I love it as well, and I'm a 52-year old woman. The settings, costumes, and young actors...

Les

1 year

I did a digital blind buy on Reign. The whole first season was on iTunes for $9.99....

CBS has too

1 year

Shocked by that drop in demo ratings for The World Series. Either it was a much more...

No third-week wonder for ABC’s Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, which shed another tenth for a new demo low of 1.1, tied in the hour with the Vampire Diaries, en route to cancellation. Veteran Grey’s Anatomy (2.8) perked up, by 8% from last week’s fast national and soaring 155% above its lead-in. Scandal (3.0) was down 9% from last week.

CBS incumbents help well while newbies faltered against the World Series. The Big Bang Theory (4.9) was even with its 18-49 fast national from last Thursday, Two And A Half Men (2.3) was up 10%, while Elementary (1.8) grew 13%. But newly renewed freshmen The Millers (2.8) and The Crazy Ones (2.3) were both down, by 13% and 11%, respectively.

23 Comments

Really? Are you seriously injecting “Under the Dome” into Deadline Hollywood’s vernacular?

There goes the neighborhood.

Peacock96 • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

We haven’t been able to do much in the way of promotion since Vince Manze and John Miller left. We went from Must See TV to Must We Endure This?

JM • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

And every year as soon as the ratings are in free fall, the CW starts spinning the numbers with this weird demo only they care about. But please, please don’t join that game and report the actual 18-49.

Pedro C. S. Guida • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

18-34 is the most coveted demo. Studies shows that brand loyalty sets in agter you are 36.

petra • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

ABC never should have put both Once Upon a time series on at the same time, shouldn’t have stuck one of them in the Thursday 8 pm time slot of death, and should have made sure the new one was actually interesting and entertaining to watch. 3 strikes and it looks like ABC is out.

I was really looking forward to Once upon a time in Wonderland, but having both airing in the same part of the season is to much and only shows how weak the spin off is. Should have stuck to their original plan and ran the spin off while the mothership was on hiatus.

Terrence Linder • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

THE CW,(CANT WATCH!).

Wright • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Reign has been excellent so far. I really hope it gets adjusted up. I’m not a teen, but I LOVE the show.

jac • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

i love reign, ihope it doesnt get cancelled

Emily • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

I love it as well, and I’m a 52-year old woman. The settings, costumes, and young actors are all gorgeous. It’s a feast for the eyes, especially on a large high-def TV. Hope it can hold an audience!

mcflyer54 • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

NBC need not worry. They have that highly anticipated remake of “Murder, She Wrote” w/Octavia Spencer in their back pocket. Might be a great pairing with the successful “Ironsides” retooling. What? “Ironsides” has already been cancelled? Well, maybe NBC will redo “The Golden Girls” with the Kardashians.

Personally, if I were running NBC I’d move the entire Thursday night lineup to Saturday night. Nobody has paid attention to seriously programming Saturday in the past 8 or 10 years so maybe something new and fresh (instead of reruns) on that night might generate some traffic for the entire schedule.

Iakovos • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

ABC makes some really boneheaded scheduling decisions. We will not even rehash last season’s mishandling of HAPPY ENDINGS. Yes, OUAT: WONDERLAND should have been slotted between arcs of the original, not running on Thursdays. Not sure why NBC cannot catch a break. PARENTHOOD is very good. Critics love P&R but Poehler’s comedy never caught on. NBC just dug a deep hole by giving in to Trump and Leno and making its schedule Death Valley. The Fox comedy is OK and I am surprised more are not sampling it. It could use some tweaks but it is not a disaster.

Ratings Schmatings • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Hilarious how CW spins as Reign drops. And once it’s up against Glee instead of MLB, it’ll continue to slip and slide. CW’s wasting the time slot on a show with out of control production costs & severely limited appeal. If it were a Julie Plec series and less expensive, it might make sense to keep it hanging around (that’s you Tomorrow People), but this one won’t last.

Matthew Laurie • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Reign has been a pleasant surprise. Visually stunning with an engaging storyline. Congrats to the CW for trying something new and unexpected.

Kelly • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Since my LA Dodgers are in not in the world series I been watching Millers, Big Bang theroy and Reign last night it was good

Kinda slow in the beginning look like heating up English just pay King of France visit

NervisRex • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Sean might Save the World, but clearly he won’t be Saving the Network.

anon • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Of course Grey’s perked up. It was a Derek-cenetred story. Now get rid of or demote those uninteresting interns, especially Leah – and never let Jesse Williams be MIA again. WTF was up with THAT?

Ben Bosse • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Another good episode of two and a half men last night

cj • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Don’t get how they gave in to Leno. They do waste time with trump… Does brand is doa now but not seeing the Leno thing. The fact that the jay Leno show did bit its first week shows people like jay they just didn’t like that show ans they don’t want him in that earlier period. After being I’m late night so long people are comfortable with him there. This post just shows your bias against jay. Of anything NBC should be begging him to stay longer rather than forcing him to fox, CBS or ABC.

Einar Olav • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

NBC comedies can’t cut it, but their reality shows can. Maybe NBC should develop reality show sitcom where stories and characters are improvised on the spot.

Zora • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

NBC was so fast to cancel “Welcome to the Family” instead of first testing it like it did last night and seeing that it wasn’t the show, it’s the Night! I like the person above suggestion. Move it to Saturday nights. Get the good shows off of Thursday night instead of cancelling them. Put a reality show there and deal with one night that sucks in the ratings.

Show us the rest of Welcome to the Family episode and let us make the decision.

CBS has too many failing sitcoms • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

Shocked by that drop in demo ratings for The World Series. Either it was a much more boring contest than game 1 or the stiffer competition coming from super hits, Big Bang Theory, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scandal, took away a chunk of baseball watchers. On a side note, Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal were absolutely stunning!!! All three of the Thursday night hit scripted programs just show what well written, developed, and acted shows can do against football and baseball. Emmys should be awarded next year to the actresses that portray Christina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy and Mellie on Scandal. Meantime, The Millers, Crazy Ones, Elementary, and to a lesser extent, Two and a Half Men are really struggling, with The Millers and Crazy Ones still shedding viewers and demo ratings.

Les • on Oct 25, 2013 9:41 am

I did a digital blind buy on Reign. The whole first season was on iTunes for $9.99. That was extremely cheap so I just bought it. I actually haven’t watched it yet but will probably sit down at some point and chain watch the episodes over 1 or 2 nights depending on the total season order. At least, I don’t have to worry about using the DVR since I can watch it at any time on my AppleTV.